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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



Quite a package of letters and notes of observa- 

 tion abroad, are on hand, and will be forwarded foj 

 publication, as fast as it is thought by the writer 

 that the readers of the Farmer desire to read them. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MISERIES OF FARMING. 



I would reply briefly to L. H, Sherman's article 

 of Aug. 29th, upon "The Influences of Farming." 

 I am glad of an opportunity, because I have long 

 thought that farming has been unduly extolled, 

 and made to appear a most delightful occupation. 

 It is one thing to gaze in admiration upon some 

 noble edifice, upon its exquisite workmanship and 

 architectural beauty, and quite another to cut down, 

 hew and frame the massive timbers of which it is 

 composed, and go through all the complicated 

 work in its erection. So it is one thing to talk 

 about country life, its beautiful scenery, waving 

 forests, green hills and flowery meadows, and quite 

 another to go with the farmer to his dusty labor- 

 field, and participate with him in his hard, unmiti- 

 gated toil. It seems to me that God intended that 

 the tilling of the earth should be particularly wea- 

 risome and laborious ; for in pronouncing the curse 

 upon man. He dwells entirely upon the curse of 

 the ground, of the sorrow with which he should 

 eat of it all the days of his life, of its thorns and 

 thistles, and the sweat of his face with which he 

 should earn his bread. 



Again, it does not seem unreasonable to assert 

 that farming is, at least, one of the most laborious 

 occupations, from the fact that it is one which de- 

 pends upon physical power ; power in common with 

 the beasts of burden, the horse and patient ox ; 

 and the supremacy of those employments which 

 require intellectual exertion is shown most clearly 

 in all those wonderful inventions by which the la- 

 bor of the husbandman is facilitated. If mind can 

 thus lessen agricultural labor, could not its powers, 

 engaged in some honorable and worthy calling, ob- 

 tain for a man a livelihood more easily than if he 

 depended upon physical strength ? But we are 

 told here that farmers enjoy better health and live 

 longer than any other class. It is true under cer- 

 tain circumstances ; if a man has the means of be- 

 ing independent of very hard work, if he can have 

 time for the improvement of his mind, he is no 

 doubt under as favorable circumstances, for health 

 and length of days, as he can be. But load a man 

 with debts, or give him even a considerable sum to 

 commence with, and the necessary exertion which 

 he must put forth to obtain a livelihood, will break 

 down his constitution and send him to the grave 

 as soon as anybody else. And nine-tenths of the 

 farming community are in just these circumstances. 

 And in this article friend S, says that a "moderate 

 action of the brain only, is well adaj)ted to the 

 healthy expansion of body and mind." By this 

 we are to understand that anything more than a 

 moderate action of the brain is injurious. It is not 

 so ; the more active the brain, not over-tvorked, the 

 healthier the man and the longer his life. We 

 know that the hunter will ])ursue his game for 

 miles without fatigue, while his attendant, for want 

 of mental stimulus, soon grows weary. Now why 

 should not mental stimulus in every case have 

 this tendency to overcome the wasting efi"ect8 of 



labor ? Prof. Pierce, of Cambridge, has recently 

 stated that mortality was the greatest among those 

 graduates who had no Commencement parts. — 

 These, of course, were the inferior scholars. Here 

 is a fact overlooked in estimating the healthiness 

 of farming with intellectual pursuits. The absorp- 

 tion of the mind in great truths, the enthusiasm 

 attendant upon it, lengthens existence, while the 

 mind of the farmer, for want of it, turns inward, 

 preys upon itself, and wastes its energies and those 

 of the body which hold it. Hence the advantage 

 of intellectual over physical labor ; it more than 

 counterbalances the advantage of phj'sical exercise. 

 Who would not rather prefer the enjoyment of an 

 educated mind than the narrow scope to which the 

 farmer in general is confined ? It is impossible 

 for him to make much advancement in knowledge. 

 The exhaustion upon the body, sympathizing with 

 the mind, incapacitates it for mental labor, and the 

 farmer at the close of the day, tired and weary, 

 sooner seeks "nature's sweet restorer" than gather- 

 ing wisdom from the midnight oil. 



One advantage of farming, it is said in this arti- 

 cle, is, that the farmer receives his subsistence from 

 the, hand of Heaven. Well, what is it ? For a 

 series of years it has given the potato rot, and the 

 poor husbandman going to his field in time of har- 

 vest, to seek the fruit of his labors, finds that he is 

 reaping in corruption. For two years past it has 

 sent a flood, now as common a blessing as its pre- 

 decessor, which covers and destroys our meadow 

 grass, bringing great loss to those who depend up- 

 on it for their catile in the winter, depriving them 

 of food, and taking away the manure neccvssary to 

 plant with in the coming season. These losses as 

 much derange a farmer's pecuniary matters as the 

 loss of thousands does the merchant's. 



Come, then, ye admirers of farming, to our bar- 

 ren, unfruitful soils, to our potato rolling, meadow- 

 flooding region, and you shall have your realiza- 

 tion of country life ; hard, unceasing toil, srnall 

 remuneration, a mind vacant and idle, because of 

 its MODERATE ACTION, with powers lying dormant 

 and unemployed, which if called into exercise would 

 increase the bodily and mental health, obtain a liv- 

 ing more easily, besides aff"ording enjoyment which 

 the farmer cannot — having never experienced it — 

 understand or appreciate. 



Let those therefore who hei'eafter write of the 

 merits of farming use no gloss or poetry to conceal 

 the truth. Let the reality be told — apj)ealing not 

 to fancy — but to the toiling millions who till the 

 earth. E. H. s. 



JVorth ffayland. 



Transmission of Fevers. — In a work recently 

 published by an English physician on the transmis- 

 sion of fevers, after referring to the value of thorough 

 ventilation, light and cleanliness to disinfect clothes 

 and apartments, he says "it is important to know 

 regarding infection, that when not destroyed or dis- 

 persed in the sick room, it attaches itself and ad- 

 heres with great tenacity to all articles of furniture, 

 chairs, tables, drawers, Sec, nestling in their innu- 

 merable pores ; and unless these articles be scrubbed 

 with a solution of chloride of lime, or exposed to a 

 strong heat, or a free current of air for several 

 hours, it may again become evolved, more virulent- 

 ly than at first, after a lapse of weeks. But it chief- 

 ly adheres to cotton and woolen materials. The 



